A common sign of bad strategy is diffusion of enablement functions across a company. Multiple enablement groups:

Produce conflicting messages, sowing confusion and conflict.

Waste sales time and budget.

Create noise that raises sellers’ resistance

So salespeople, let’s redefine Sales Enablement. Then we’ll ask leaders to get their act together.

Collateral, tools, training and live-fire engagement mentoring may be enablement.

But only if it helps us get over a specific sales milestone hurdle.

How should good leaders judge the value of what enablers provide? Let you be the judge. If “enablement” doesn’t help you sell more, leaders should change it or dump it.

Why does bad enablement proliferate? Our research outlines the problem in detail, but here are two recurring themes:

When activity masquerades as value. During my tenure in a large enterprise, a Marketing Director asked me to help ensure that her “play” would work. She knew our sellers had plenty of options where to invest their time. So I outlined the minimum seller execution needs she needed to fulfill. Otherwise, she’d be relying on miracles and hoping for heroics.Gasp! They didn’t have the budget for that!

You know how this story ends. They should have kept their powder dry. But instead they spent $30,000 on fluff. Why? Because she and her team had an MBO bonus pegged to launching (any) programs. The program was completely ignored, as it deserved to be.

Knocking on the wrong doors. Again our research indicates that a hallmark of bad sales strategy is glossing over segmentation. Returning to the Halloween theme, segmentation:

Tells you which houses to visit because they have the best treats.

Helps you find the doorbell and to know how to ring it.

Informs the most effective way to say “trick or treat.”

Lacking segmentation, inevitably you knock on some doors where no one’s home. Or where they have no candy. Or where they give you one measly piece or that lousy apple.

Isn’t it time that Sales Enablement aspires to Sales acceleration?

Then send this link to your VP of Sales. They can register here to receive our research report and arrange for a free 90-minute strategy session. Or contact me, and I’ll send the report personally with your compliments.

Kevin Avery

Prior to SBI, Kevin held leadership positions in sales, marketing, business and channel development in the high tech industry, concentrating in the Contact Center and Collaboration software.

Kevin was an A-Player salesperson who transitioned successfully into leadership. At Cisco Systems, his Enterprise Area sales team drove double-digit growth, with annual bookings exceeding $120MM. As Strategy leader for Cisco’s Contact Center and Collaboration specialist sales groups, he devised, designed and coached a competitive displacement sales program that netted over $125MM bookings with a 90% win rate and zero no-decisions. Kevin’s experience prior to Cisco at Spanlink – a packaged and custom software company and reseller-integrator – began at near-startup stage. Leading the sales team out of the company’s IPO, he grew revenues by 50%, then closed an OEM agreement with a $70M+ lifetime value. When the 2001 tech bubble burst, resulting in dissolving a $130M acquisition, he was instrumental in refitting and relaunching the company.

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